Polly’s Story (Swallowcliffe Hall)
by Jennie Walters
‘Downton Abbey’ from the servants’ perspective!
- ‘Please do yourself a treat and read this lovely book.’ Kate, Amazon US reviewer
- ‘The period detail is amazing, utterly authentic and yet never overwhelming. The style of the writing is cozy, intimate and engaging, rather like settling in for a long tea and chat with a friend.’ Kathleen Cecala, author of Raven Girl
- ‘This is my most enjoyable book so far on Kindle. Actually – 3 books! I had to complete the trilogy, and having done that I’ve gone back to the beginning and started reading Polly’s Story again.’ Lexy, Amazon UK reviewer
Scandal, romance and intrigue in a grand old English country house: Swallowcliffe Hall, home to the aristocratic Vye family and the servants who look after them. Polly Perkins, the new under-housemaid, finds it hard to learn the manners and etiquette required of her in the servants’ hall, besides cleaning up after the whirl of banquets, balls and shooting parties. She is expected to be seen and not heard, and nobody takes much notice of the quiet young girl who lights their fires and empties their slops. But Polly is sharp-eyed and quick-witted, and gradually she pieces together a dark secret lurking behind the Hall’s elegant façade – a secret that will end up breaking her heart and shaping her life for years to come. When a beautiful American heiress arrives to stay at the Hall, Polly must decide whether the time has come to reveal what she knows.
The first story in a sweeping trilogy about two families, one above stairs and one below, and the extraordinary moments in history they live through. Grace’s Story follows the fortunes of Polly’s daughter, a reluctant kitchenmaid in 1914. War turns life at Swallowcliffe upside down as the male servants leave to fight in France, and Lord and Lady Vye make an ill-fated voyage home from America aboard the Lusitania. In the final book, Isobel’s Story, Grace’s daughter arrives to convalesce at the Hall in 1939. Polly is housekeeper now but the house has fallen on hard time and war is looming. Trying to help Andreas, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, Isobel finally learns the truth about her grandmother’s past and discovers courage in the face of prejudice she never knew she had.
Visit the author’s website, www.jenniewalters.com, for a wealth of fascinating historical information, original photographs, craft ideas and much more!
About The Author
Jennie Walters has been writing books for children and young adults for over ten years (including the popular ‘Party Girls’ series), as well as working in children’s publishing. She was partly inspired to write the ‘Swallowcliffe Hall’ trilogy by visits to beautiful old English country houses, and partly by a silver housekeeper’s chatelaine she found when clearing out her late father-in-law’s flat. As a teenager, she spent a couple of years at a clifftop boarding school converted from a Victorian mansion, with a huge marble staircase and a collection of stuffed birds in glass cases. She now lives with her husband in London. Visit Jennie’s website, www.jenniewalters.com, for fascinating insights into English country houses and the servants and families who live in them, original photographs from Victorian times, biographical information and lots more!
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